There’s a long list of former CBC executives empowered to get rid of Grapes who understand this reality. Will the CBC’s executive vice-president of English services Kirstine Stewart soon understand it as well?

“Don’s comments reflect his own personal opinion,” Stewart said in a statement. “While we support his right to voice that opinion, we do not share his position.”

But does she share in the multi-millions he brought in that night for a network, otherwise relying on public subsidies? If she is so concerned, why doesn’t she pull the plug on the coach and return ad revenue already contracted for this season?

Her handling of this, which included a bizarre private phone call to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, is not a nice way to treat your network’s biggest star.

Stewart would also have another problem.

Sidekick Ron MacLean said Thursday “If we die on our own sword, we die together.”

If Cherry and Ron MacLean and their massive audience end up at TSN or Sportsnet is she going to replace those numbers with re-runs of David Suzuki or Steven and Chris?

TSN and Sportsnet already have their chequebooks ready. Remember the iconic Hockey Night in Canada song?

Good luck, Kirstine Stewart.

She should know Cherry’s job is to bring in viewers and he does it better than anybody. This past Saturday 2.54 million watched. With a week of the Pukegate controversy, that number could even grow for this Saturday. The fact that no one knows what he will say is why so many watch. Could he apologize, or at least lower the temperature, for his over the top “pukes, hypocrites and turncoats” comments towards Chris Nilan, Jim Thomson and Stu Grimson?

It’s not even close to being necessary but it could happen. It’s not likely but he is capable.

The reason? Cherry loves those guys.

“He does,” said MacLean who has a new book, Cornered, in stores now. “Don didn’t mean it like it sounded.”

He just got mad at them, like a coach does sometimes. Ask Sundin, Ovechkin, Lemieux and even Crosby. They all survived a Grapes barb in the past. And no lawyers were necessary.

“I just think it’s a bunch about nothing,” said MacLean.

He’s right. Besides, Cherry has already apologized for the “pukes” comment and tried his best without caving, to soften the rest by saying “Grimson was good on TV, even better than me.”

As he has told some in the media he just got “carried away.” But his point of view, and his interpretation of what the former players had said about fighting after Wade Belak’s death, was fair game to comment on. None of those players ever talked of censorship or lawsuits when Cherry was saying nice things about them. They liked that free speech.

If Don was disappointed that men who once made millions fighting were in his estimation turning their backs on what made them rich, he is entitled to say that. It’s just an opinion from a commentator. If those on the receiving end feel it’s incorrect, they can certainly clarify. More free speech.

That Cherry’s words so badly hurt the feelings of people once tough enough to take punches to the head, says more about their thin skin than it does a colourful patriot calling it as he sees it.

It’s interesting how Grimson on the Fan590 can say, perhaps “Don is as batty as he sounds” after being quoted in news stories saying perhaps the CBC will soon realize “it’s time to shut the senile old uncle down” but that’s OK.

And a Toronto Star op-ed column called Cherry an “old man with an outrageous wardrobe, a big mouth and an empty head” and leftist Now magazine columnist Susan G. Cole told John Oakley on AM640 “why doesn’t the CBC take him off the air?”

But this isn’t Soviet Russia.

We have free speech here and because of it Cole’s OK with the notion that she gets to stay on the air.

What kind of pundit could have a wildly popular TV show for 25 years by not saying anything that offends?

The reason people tune in to see what he has to say is because whether he calls them “left-wing pinkos” or stands up for our “good Canadian boys” at war, the audience knows that unlike with most play-it-safe Canadian commentators, he is unleashed, uncensored, unafraid, has no sacred cows and pulls no punches.

It’s not a good thing in North Korea or Cuba but its a cherished right here in Canada.

If people listened closely to Grapes Saturday he talked about not believing in teams employing goon players and that his fighters on the Bruins’ also scored 20 goals. He likes fights, as do 99% of the crowd who pay the freight. Obviously Bettman is OK with it, too, since he has made no effort to remove it.

If those who don’t like what Cherry says are so offended, there is not just one channel in Canada.

But if this Saturday’s ratings are like last, it will be clear that many will have decided to keep it on the CBC. There’s just something about freedom of speech, and not being afraid to use it, that helps corner the market on TV ratings and the riches that come with that.